New Year, Smarter Printing: 7 Office Tech Resolutions That Start with Your Print Environment

Let’s be honest: when making New Year’s resolutions for the office, the printer doesn’t exactly top the list. Right up there with “organize the supply closet” and “finally clean out that shared drive,” improving your print environment tends to fall somewhere between “I’ll get to it eventually” and “is that really a priority?”

Here’s the plot twist: it absolutely should be.

While you’ve been laser-focused on digital transformation initiatives and cloud migrations, your print environment has been steadily draining resources in the background. Gartner, a leading technology research and advisory firm, found that printing costs account for 1-3% of a company’s annual revenue. Studies consistently show that nearly half of all printed documents end up as waste, often discarded the same day they’re printed.

The good news? Smart organizations are already figuring this out, investing in Managed Print strategies that turn printing from a cost center into a competitive advantage. So, before you commit to another year of “we’ll deal with it later,” here are seven resolutions that can really make a difference.

Resolution 1: Conduct a Print Environment Audit (No, Really)

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. And if you’re like most organizations, you’re flying blind when it comes to your actual printing costs and habits.

Start by tracking the basics: How many devices do you have? What’s your monthly print volume? What are you spending on supplies versus what you budgeted? Which departments are power-printing their way through your toner inventory?

The discoveries are often eye-opening. You’ll likely find “zombie printers”: those devices still lurking on your network, consuming energy and maintenance dollars, but rarely actually printing anything. You’ll spot patterns like the marketing team printing full-color reports that could easily be digital, or discover that different departments are each maintaining their own fleet when consolidation would save thousands.

Paper waste dominates office trash bins, and unnecessary printing is a leading culprit. Your audit will show you exactly what’s happening in your office, and more importantly, how to fix it.

Resolution 2: Embrace Managed Print Services

Think of Managed Print Services (MPS) as hiring a personal trainer for your print fleet; you get expert guidance, regular check-ins, and measurable results in the form of predictable costs and proactive maintenance.

Here’s what changes: Instead of reactive spending (scrambling when a printer dies or toner runs out), you move to a predictable monthly model. Instead of your IT team fielding endless “the printer’s jammed again” calls, specialized technicians handle it. And instead of guessing whether you need that expensive repair or if it’s time to replace the whole device, you’ve got data-driven recommendations.

The numbers speak for themselves. According to Gartner research, organizations implementing MPS can potentially reduce their printing costs by 10-30%. That’s money you can redirect to initiatives that actually move the needle for your business.

Modern MPS includes analytics dashboards, automated supply ordering, and remote diagnostics that catch problems before they become crises. Cloud-based solutions are rapidly becoming the standard, offering flexibility and scalability that traditional models can’t match.

Resolution 3: Implement Print Rules and User Authentication

A significant amount of printed waste comes from ‘ghost printing’: documents sent to the printer that no one ever picks up. Maybe the person changed their mind. Maybe they forgot about it. Maybe they already left for the day.

Enter pull printing (also called secure release or follow-me printing). Users authenticate at the device before their job prints, which means no more confidential documents sitting in the tray for anyone to see, and no more unclaimed printouts heading straight to recycling.

This one change creates what behavioral economists call a “friction point”, a moment where people think, “do I really need this printed?” before committing. It’s about inserting a pause button into a previously thoughtless process.

The security benefits alone justify this resolution. In an era where data breaches dominate headlines, having sensitive documents lying around on printer trays is a vulnerability you don’t need. But the environmental and cost savings are equally compelling. When people know they have to walk to the printer to release their job, they tend to print less.

Resolution 4: Right-Size Your Fleet

Having too many printers is expensive. Too few printers create bottlenecks and frustration. The Goldilocks principle applies here: you want just the right amount, in just the right places.

Most organizations have organically accumulated their print fleet over the years: a printer here because someone complained, another there because a department wanted its own. The result? A sprawling, inefficient mix of different models, ages, and capabilities.

Right-sizing means making strategic decisions. Should you consolidate to fewer, more capable multifunction devices? Does it make sense to have high-capacity printers centrally located with a few smaller devices for convenience? What’s the actual print volume by location, and does your current fleet match reality?

That cheap printer you got on sale might seem like a win, but if it guzzles toner and breaks down constantly, it’s costing you more than a higher-quality device with better efficiency and reliability.

The shift to hybrid work has complicated things, but it has also created opportunities. Cloud-based print management means organizations can now support distributed workforces without deploying traditional infrastructure everywhere.

Resolution 5: Go Mobile and Cloud-Ready

Modern employees need to print from their phones, tablets, and laptops: from home, the road, and client sites. And increasingly, they’re working with cloud-based documents that shouldn’t require downloading, emailing, and complex workarounds just to get something on paper.

Cloud-connected printing solutions enable exactly this flexibility. Employees can send print jobs securely from anywhere, authenticate when they reach a device, and pick up their documents. No VPNs, no special drivers, no IT tickets required.

This isn’t just about employee satisfaction (though that matters). It’s about staying competitive. Organizations that enable seamless workflows attract and retain better talent. Those that make basic tasks unnecessarily difficult create friction that impacts productivity across the board.

Resolution 6: Automate Supply Management

Let’s end the “toner panic” era once and for all.

You know the scenario: someone discovers the last toner cartridge is nearly empty, triggers an emergency order, rushes shipping to get it delivered, and ends up paying premium prices for something you could have ordered weeks ago at bulk rates if anyone had noticed sooner.

Modern print devices can report their supply levels automatically. Set thresholds, configure automatic reordering, and let the system handle it. Supplies arrive before you run out, you buy in bulk at better prices, and your team stops treating toner shortages like natural disasters.

The time savings alone justify this change. Why waste your IT team’s or office manager’s time on supply monitoring when automation can handle it? Automation also enables standardization, which means fewer different consumables, better bulk pricing, and simpler inventory management.

This connects directly to an MPS strategy. Most Managed Print agreements include automated supply management as a standard feature, removing this headache entirely from your plate.

Resolution 7: Train Your Team (and Make It Stick)

Here’s an uncomfortable truth: you’re probably paying for features that no one on your team knows exist.

That multifunction device in the break room? It can scan to email, create searchable PDFs, do double-sided copying, and print booklets. But if everyone only uses it for basic single-sided printing, you’re not getting your money’s worth.

Quick training makes a difference. Not a three-hour mandatory session that everyone resents. We’re talking about brief, practical demonstrations of the features people will use. Show them how to scan and email documents instead of printing. Demonstrate how duplex printing works. Explain how pull printing makes their lives easier.

The trick is making it stick. Identify print champions in each department: people who get it, use the features, and can help their colleagues when questions arise. Post quick reference guides near devices. Send periodic tips in your internal communications. Make efficient printing visible and valued.

Inefficient document management practices waste significant money every year in paper, toner and ink. Proper training directly addresses this waste. When employees understand how to use the tools at their disposal, they make better choices automatically.

The Bottom Line: Start Small, Think Big

These seven resolutions work together synergistically. Your print audit informs your right-sizing strategy. A Managed Print Services provider can handle supply automation. Your cloud-ready infrastructure enables user authentication. It all connects.

But you don’t have to tackle everything at once. Pick one or two resolutions that would deliver the quickest wins for your organization. Maybe your biggest pain point is supply management, so you start there. Maybe unclaimed printouts are piling up, so you implement pull printing first.

The key is momentum. One successful change builds credibility for the next. Small improvements compound into significant savings and efficiency gains.

With organizations increasingly focused on cost optimization and sustainability, there’s never been a better time to take your print environment seriously. The tools, technologies, and service providers are ready. The only question is whether you are, too.

About WCC

For nearly 50 years, WCC Business Solutions has been helping Tampa Bay businesses work smarter. From print and imaging to VoIP phone systems and video conferencing technology, we offer a full spectrum of solutions to support your team and streamline your operations.